Kevin Hart Touches On Diversity In Hollywood After Emotional Oscars Speech


Kevin Hart has mastered appealing to all audiences at the box office, but even though his broad comedy has mass appeal and he isn’t pigeonholed in black comedies, Hart still finds the time to talk about diversity in film. It’s a subject that has brought great controversy and has been the topic of discussion for years, as major studios rarely cast people of color in tentpole projects.

As a comedian-turned-actor who very much makes his checks from studio films, Hart was honest about diversity problems plaguing the film industry. For Hart, it’s all about breaking ground right now. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he doesn’t mince words when talking about the problems in Hollywood.

“These are real problems, but I’m not gonna go and bark and gripe to bring more attention to them. I’m going to try to break down some doors so I can be an example of how it can be different. I mean, in the heart of all of this [#OscarsSoWhite] stuff, me and Ice Cube even had a No. 1 movie overseas for a little bit! That was Ride Along 2.”

Instead of beating a drum, Hart, like his friend Ice Cube, has decided to pave a new way in the studio system. In the interview with EW, Kevin Hart points out that like-minded artists need to break down the door for others instead of complaining.

“Let’s figure out a way to get a studio to believe in us and back us and help us really bring this thing that’s a vision into reality… I’m not standing out here with a f— you attitude.”

The actor continued, “And now those doors that people were saying were closed, I have a platform where I can open some. And I can put actions behind my words without bitching and complaining.”

As stated, this isn’t the first time Hart has opened up about the lack of diversity in Hollywood. When the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite went viral on Twitter for the second year in a row, after the Oscars failed to highlight the achievements of African Americans, many gave their opinion about the problems in the industry. Given his position in Hollywood, Hart gave an emotional speech at the Academy Awards addressing the problems.

“I want to take a moment to applaud all of my actors and actresses of color that didn’t get nominated tonight. Tonight should not determine the hard work and effort that you put into your craft. ‘At the end of the day, we love what we do and we’re breaking major ground doing it. These problems of today will eventually become problems of the old.”

Prior to the awards ceremony, Hart supported Chris Rock as Oscar host. Rock was announced as the host of the ceremony prior to the nominations. When the Oscars failed to nominate people of color in major performance categories, many people wanted to see Rock step down from the hosting gig, but in the end, Rock stuck with the gig as expected.

Hart offered support for the comedian, telling Extra’s Mario Lopez that comedians need to support each other, and that all the great comedians out there show support. At the time, he called the comedy world a fraternity with members that back each other no matter what. In fact, Hart revealed that he had a discussion with Rock and urged him not to boycott the awards ceremony, like some of their colleagues chose to do.

“I told my brother do it, this is a stage, on the stage we have the ability to get your point across, you address an issue, but you do it in a Chris Rock way.”

What do you think about Kevin Hart’s most recent comments on diversity?

[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Images]

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